Antillean Media Group

Lima COP-20: Developing countries slam UN officials on second day

LIMA, Peru, December 4, 2014(AMG) — In a discussion on the draft text of the 2015 Paris agreement led by the United States, developed countries demanded the removal of obligatory references on the expected financial contributions to be provided to poor countries. Switzerland particularly led the charge for the removal of the text, saying that no agreement would be reached in Lima as long as the references remained.

Closing on an agreed draft text for the 2015 Paris agreement is of critical interest to small island states, which are looking to a legally-binding agreement to limit carbon emissions and arrest global warming effects. Funding is also critical to small states’ efforts to adapt to climate change, with the understanding that major emitters should pay their fair share for their contribution to climate change.

Developing countries made accusations against the two United Nations co-chairs – Artur Runge-Metzger (from the EU negotiating team) and Kishan Kumarsingh (from Trinidad and Tobago) – that they were ‘cherry picking’ topics for formal negotiations, rather than following the basis of the text. These allegations, however, were to no avail.

A representative of the Third World Network, Meena Raman, said “in a co-chair driven process, they can pick and choose what proposals they take on board … and not reflect all the options and views on the table.”

The G77+China group, represented by Malaysia, also criticized the two officials, while China went further to express its concerns over the proposal made by the co-chair that the “secretariat takes notes” of the countries’ proposals and “take it back home to cook in their kitchen.” An Indian official also went on record to accuse the co-chairs of being “more than unreasonable.”

Defending their methods of working, Runge-Metzger of the EU, stated that “this is not the last time to go through the text. We are choosing this methodology of work for the next four days so that it is clear where the sticky points could be…”

Lima COP-20: Developing countries slam UN officials on second day

Sophia is a Grenadian residing in the United States. She holds an MPH and an MSc. in Natural Resource and Environmental Management, and has research interests in the impact of the environment on public health.